When producing hydrocarbonaceous fluids from an oil well or reservoir, a high volume of water is often produced therewith. The water is subsequently separated from the hydrocarbonaceous fluids. Once the water has been separated out, it often cannot be disposed of readily because of impurities contained in the water along with traces of oil. Therefore, it is necessary to dispose of the water in a manner which is in keeping with accepted environmental standards.
One method which is often used to dispose of waste water produced with hydrocarbonaceous fluids is to pump the water into an underground formation via a well. When this is done, the water generally takes the path of least resistance and enters into a high permeability zone of the formation. When the high permeability has become saturated with the water, it often proceeds from the high permeability zone into an underground area such as abandoned wellbores or an underground aquifer.
It has been previously disclosed to dispose of fines produced with an oil by making a slurry of fines with water. Subsequently, the slurry is pumped into the formation. The formation can then be hydraulically fractured by using the slurry as a frac fluid to increase the permeability of the formation. A method where fines have been used in this manner is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,030, which issued to Jennings, Jr. on May 9, 1989. Another method where fines have been disposed of in conjunction with an enhanced oil recovery process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,452, which issued to Jennings, Jr. on Nov. 29, 1988. These patents are hereby incorporated by reference. Both of these methods seek to inject formation fines into a high permeability zone of a formation for disposal. Since the high permeability zone can release contaminated liquids into an undesired area, it is necessary to close off the high permeability zone so as to increase the storage of undesired waste in an area near the wellbore.
Therefore, what is needed is a method for closing off a high permeability zone of a formation which has been saturated with contaminated waste water so as to allow the use of an area in close proximity to the wellbore for storage of additional waste water.